CPESC Take-Home Exercise (Roads)

Information and Instruction Package for

CPESC Applicants







Version 2, February 2014


Instructions to the Applicant
You are required to prepare an Erosion and Sediment Control Plan (ESCP) for the
project site as provided within the accompanying drawings/plans. The ESCP does not
need detailed engineering construction drawings but must have sufficient
information (in the form of drawings, notes, calculations and/or reports) to
demonstrate how erosion and sediment control would be undertaken during
construction of the new road.
Assume your plan will be assessed by a suspicious, pedantic erosion and sediment
control professional who works for the regulator or consenting authority. That
person needs to be convinced that your calculations are accurate and your plan will
work.
The following drawings have been provided:
1. Road layout including contours, elevations, culverts, watercourses,
flood extents and project boundaries.
2. Centreline long section.
3. Road cross sections.
The project site location is to be nominated by you. You can choose to place the site
anywhere in Australia however:
- The selected location must be relevant to the geographical area of your
regular day-to-day work AND
- The chosen location must have an average annual rainfall of at least
650mm/yr.
This location is to be a real location and should be used to determine various input
parameters (e.g. rainfall data) for your ESCP. You need to specify the exact location
in your documentation.
All relevant site information and data is detailed within the accompanying
Background Information.
You must specify what standards or reference document you are working to. For
example, you might specify that your plan is prepared in accordance with the New
South Wales Blue Book (Landcom, 2004) or the IECA (2008) Best-Practice Erosion
and Sediment Control (BPESC) document. Ensure the site location you have
nominated is relevant to the standards you are working to (for example, dont
nominate a site location in Queensland then select the NSW Blue Book as your
standard).
You are expected to be familiar with the legislative environment for the area you
nominate and the level of information that would typically be required for an ESCP in
that area.
Ensure you describe all of the various practices used and assumptions made when
preparing your ESCP.
You will need to evaluate the site, its resources and conditions and identify a range
of soil and water management measures suitable for use at the site considering the
construction of a major road project.
You will need to be familiar with road construction techniques (e.g. staging, cut/fill
balances etc) to be able to complete this exercise. Note that the CPESC committee
and IECA will not answer questions posed by applicants regarding typical
construction methodology for a road project like this. If applicants do not have the
technical knowledge and experience of how a road project like this is constructed,
they should not undertake this exercise.
Your ESCP should consist of two parts:
1. A series of drawings/plans which show the proposed layout/locations
of the soil and water management works.
2. A commentary or set of notes which contains supporting text and
diagrams including components such as calculations, monitoring and
maintenance schedules, copies of standard drawings, check lists and
other items that demonstrate the completeness of the plan.
Your ESCP needs to address the major erosion and sediment control measures that
would be used for the period of works that includes early works, stripping, bulk
earthworks and drainage installation. Note that this might necessitate you preparing
an over-arching (or Primary) ESCP for the project, plus several detailed (or
Progressive) ESCPs for key areas such as the bridge, creek realignment and major
culverts.
Erosion and sediment control measures are not to be positioned outside of the
project boundary.
It is expected that your ESCP will include as a minimum:
o Positioning of sediment basins;
o Calculations detailing the size of sediment basins;
o Positioning (and, possibly, sizing) of other sediment traps;
o Positioning of any temporary drainage structures (e.g. diversion drains);
o Dimensions of any temporary drainage structures, including calculations and
assumptions used in determining these dimensions;
o Instructions regarding those permanent drainage structures that are to be
installed early so they become part of the temporary drainage management
during construction;
o Instructions regarding the order that erosion and sediment control measures
are to be installed and/or removed;
o Instructions regarding the timing of clearing, stabilisation and/or
rehabilitation;
o Separate detailed ESCPs for key high-risk work areas such as the bridge and
the major culvert(s);
o Notes and instructions regarding ongoing inspection, monitoring and
maintenance of all erosion and sediment control measures. This includes
sediment basin maintenance regimes following rainfall;
o Instructions and recommendations for effective stabilisation and
rehabilitation at various stages of the works.
The drawings provided are drawn to scale (scale bar provided). You are expected to
determine things such as catchment areas, slopes and slope lengths from the scale
plans in order to complete your design.
You will need to determine if the construction works need to be staged to ensure
appropriate soil and water management practices are implemented across the site.
The contractor does not intend to stage the opening of the road the whole road is
to be completed before it is opened to traffic.
Several plans might need to be provided for various stages/parcels of works (e.g.
each culvert crossing might necessitate a separate plan or set of plans).
You will need to work out all design criteria (e.g. rainfall volumes) for catch drains,
sediment basins, spillways and temporary diversions. Your ESCP should include this
background information.
You will need to size the structures listed above and provide relevant sizing details.
However, you are not required to undertake detailed civil engineering design to
show the earthworks/levels for these structures.
Any calculations included in your submission must be relevant and demonstrate your
ability and understanding. Simply including pages of computer printouts without
identifying the relevant data is not acceptable.
Any monitoring or maintenance plan should have clearly designed success criteria.
For example, achieve x% vegetation cover within y days; or sediment basin
discharge waters must not exceed an NTU of xx.
If required, you can refer to standard drawings, tables or lists in best-practice
publications but the reference must be correct and fully cited. For example IECA,
2008 is not sufficient as a reference, but IECA, 2008 Table xx would be acceptable.
Your plan should be neat and easy to follow. If the examiner cannot clearly read your
plan it could affect your mark. Your plan can be marked up:
- By hand, drawn onto printed copies of the provided plan(s); or
- By using a computer program to mark up the pdf files provided; or
- By using a CAD drawing package. The relevant .dxf files have been
provided.
Note that, regardless of which method you use to mark up your plan, a hard copy of
your work needs to be submitted to the CPESC Committee.
All work must be your own original efforts. If the CPESC Application Review
Committee finds any evidence of plagiarism, then the applicant will automatically
fail. Further, the person whose paper was copied will be reported to the CPESC ethics
committee.
While you may request a colleague review your work prior to submission, that
person can only provide general comments and assistance and must not give you
direct instruction.
Submission of Completed Exams
The completed ESCP (plan/s and report) are to be returned by the nominated date
to:
The Chair, CPESC Committee
C/- IECA (Australasia)
PO Box 33
Picton, NSW 2571

Marks will be deducted for late entries unless prior approval is granted. Extensions
will only be granted for extenuating circumstances. Contact Sandra Lanz in the IECA
Australasia office to discuss: admin@austieca.com.au
Only one hard copy needs to be provided when sending your entry in.
Ensure you retain a copy of your completed submission. IECA Australasia and CPESC
Inc. accept no responsibility for entries that go missing.

Background Information

Location
The project site location is to be nominated by you. You can choose to place the site
anywhere in Australia however:
o The selected location must be relevant to the geographical area of your
regular day-to-day work AND
o The chosen location must have an average annual rainfall of at least
650mm/yr.
The chosen location is to be a real place and should be used to determine various
input parameters (e.g. rainfall data) for your ESCP.

Project Description
The project covers all works associated with the construction of a dual carriageway
highway. This includes early works, stripping and earthworks, drainage works,
structural works, pavement construction and stabilisation/rehabilitation works.
Significant cut and fill is required to construct the roadway.
Permanent upslope drainage and diversion works are included in the construction of
the roadway.
The project includes the installation of permanent stormwater systems (e.g. pits and
pipes, cut-off drains, diversion swales and culverts).
A section of the roadway passes through a floodplain. The roadway here will be
constructed to give flood immunity up to the 100 year ARI flood event. This will
involve the construction of an earth embankment plus bridge and flood relief
culvert.
The new bridge consists of bored piles, concrete headstocks (formed in situ) and pre-
cast concrete spans. Major plant required for bridge construction includes a piling rig
and a 400 tonne crane.
All concrete, asphalt and other materials will be delivered to the project. A mobile
concrete batching or asphalt plant is not required.
The entire project is estimated to take approximately 2 years from initial
groundbreaking to effective completion.
Access to and from the project alignment is from the eastern and western ends only.
Erosion and sediment control measures are not to be located outside of the project
boundary. If this limits your ability to install certain control measures in some areas,
then you might need to come up with alternatives. Consideration should be given to
the area taken up by structures like sediment basins when putting your ESCP
together.

Site Topography and Surrounding Lands
The site and surrounding areas are characterised by gently undulating rolling hills.
The site and surrounding lands currently exist as well-grassed grazing pastures with
areas of scattered tress. No areas of endangered or protected vegetation occur
onsite nor in the immediate vicinity.

Site Drainage and Catchments
Several drainage lines traverse the site. The most significant drainage line is
Clearwater Creek. A bridge is to be built over Clearwater Creek and the creek itself
will be re-aligned as part of the proposed roadworks.
Clearwater Creek flows from south to north. It is a permanently-flowing drainage
feature except in times of extreme drought. Its catchment is mostly comprised of
grassland and bushland areas and is approximately 250ha. Clearwater Creek has the
following flows in various storm events:
o Q1: 15.6m
3
/s
o Q2: 36.2m
3
/s
o Q5: 62.8m
3
/s
o Q10: 78.0m
3
/s
o Q20: 98.7m
3
/s
o Q50: 124.0m
3
/s
o Q100: 144.0m
3
/s
The existing creek channel presently conveys all flows up to the Q2 (2-year ARI)
event without spilling onto the surrounding floodplain.
The proposed new creek channel underneath the bridge is designed to wholly
contain the Q2 (2-year ARI) event without spilling onto the surrounding floodplain.
The culvert at ch600 is a flood-relief culvert only and sits at the edge of the
floodplain of Clearwater Creek. There is no defined channel at that location.
Another major drainage feature along the alignment is at ch2360, where an un-
named perennial drainage line (a third-order stream under the Strahler system)
flows from north to south. A box-culvert crossing is to be constructed at this location
on the alignment of the existing drainage line. This drainage line has a catchment of
approximately 70ha that is made up of a combination of residential, urban and
bushland areas. It has the following flows in various storm events:
o Q1: 0.97m
3
/s
o Q2: 2.93m
3
/s
o Q5: 5.52m
3
/s
o Q10: 6.92m
3
/s
o Q20: 8.67m
3
/s
o Q50: 10.50m
3
/s
o Q100: 12.20m
3
/s
An existing dam near ch2820 is to be filled in as part of the project.
The new culvert at ch2130 will be offset from the drainage line, so as to allow
construction of the culvert without any disturbance within the drainage line. Note
that this is only a minor (2
nd
-order) drainage line and it does not carry any flows
except during significant rain events. The drainage line will be diverted into the new
culverts as shown on the drawings.
All permanent drainage swales along the road alignment have been designed to the
10-year ARI event. No sizing is provided for these as part of this exercise but you can
assume they can cope with all flows up to and including the 10-year ARI event.
The local authorities administrating fish and aquatic fauna/flora have approved
works within Clearwater Creek only during the drier months. You will need to
determine what time of the year that is for your selected location. No restrictions
apply to works within other drainage features or to works on the floodplain
surrounding Clearwater Creek.

Climate and Rainfall and Runoff
Climate and rainfall data will be specific to the site location you have chosen.
You will need to determine all of the relevant information and data for your chosen
site (i.e. IFD Table, rainfall depths, Cv value/s, C
10
value/s etc.).
Your chosen site must have an average annual rainfall of at least 650mm/yr.

Soils
Soils are fairly uniform along the proposed alignment. Samples were taken from the site and
laboratory tests were undertaken. The results are shown below:
Subsoil Particle Size Analysis (PSA) = Clay (39%), Silt (37%), Fine Sand (16%), Coarse
Sand (5%), Gravel (3%).
Subsoil Dispersion Percentage =22%
Subsoil K-factor = 0.051
USCS class = CL,ML
Soil hydrologic group is D (low permeability, high runoff potential)
Typical soil characteristics include:
Topsoil (0 200mm) Subsoil (200 1200mm)
Sandy loam
Low to moderate fertility
Weakly pedal
Low wet bearing strength
Non-dispersive and non-sodic
Low CEC
Non saline
pH (1:5) is 5.6
Light-medium silty clay
Moderately sodic
Massive soil structure
Moderately dispersible: EAT 3(2) to 3(3)
Non-reactive
Moderate CEC
Non saline
pH (1:5) is 6.9

Additional Background Information
No sites of Aboriginal or European heritage significance are known to exist on the
subject lands or in the immediate vicinity.
Although underground services such as water or fibre optic cable might be included
in the final design, you do not need to consider these for your ESCP.
No imported fill will be required.
Topsoil removed as part of the project is to be stockpiled during construction and
later re-used as part of the site rehabilitation. Instructions should be included in your
ESCP regarding erosion and sediment controls for stockpiles.
There are no inherent contamination issues.
Pipe and culvert installation includes the removal of some soft, unsuitable material
although the geotechnical report suggests volumes are minor.
Note that the superelevation details might not show up on the long sections. This is
due to an Autocad error when converting to pdf. However this should not impact on
your ability to complete the exercise because the superelevation details are
duplicated elsewhere in the drawing set.